


The Merman

by xanster



Category: DBSK | Tohoshinki | TVfXQ | TVXQ
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, M/M, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-22
Updated: 2015-04-09
Packaged: 2018-03-22 01:18:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,284
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3709525
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xanster/pseuds/xanster
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Changmin goes into the forest in a fit of anger<br/>And finds an alternate reality awaiting him</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. One

Changmin strode furiously out of the house, slamming the door loudly behind him. His face was red with anger and frustration as his father's last words rang loudly in his head. He headed straight into the forest that lay behind the town.

_"Dreams are for the dead, son. Wake up."_

His fist clutched the wadded-up piece of parchment that was the recruitment notice for the travelling circus troupe that would be coming into town later that week. For once, he had felt a spark light up in his chest, a burn that he could not quench. He had grabbed a copy of the notice and headed straight home, hoping to get his father's permission to try out.

_"You know I haven't been happy. I can do this, Dad. Let me go and be happy."_

Hot tears threatened to spill as the conversation rewound in his head, replaying the singe of pain at his father's outright objection.

_"You are the eldest of the Shims, I expect you to act like it. A farmer's work is an honest one, and our town will benefit from the crops you reap. I won't have you running off to join a silly troop of idealistic clowns travelling the land."_

_"They are well-known performers, and popular with the folkspeople. I will be able to sing better, you always boasted about my voice to everyone." He had muttered, disheartened under the onslaught._

_"Your voice won't feed you. Your voice is good enough for our purposes, not for singing for pennies."_

At that, Changmin had strode out; heart broken and fury threatened to flow out of his mouth. But he wouldn't, not to his parents. His mother had stood by helplessly, she too, would defer to the head of the household. His sisters, too young to have an opinion.

Changmin didn't realise he had walked to a part of the forest that he had not been to before. In fact, he didn't realise it existed. He halted his footsteps in puzzlement, trying to get his bearings.

\---

Then he heard a soft tune humming through the forest sounds, a melody that called for his attention. In curiosity, he followed the tune through the bushes and came out to a small clearing. He crouched hurriedly in amazement as he spotted the other.

Beside a stream, a man lay, topless. He was sunbathing and humming to himself as his lower half was submerged in the water. The tune was unlike anything Changmin had ever heard, he didn't really understand it as it seemed to be in a different tongue but its melody was beautiful, and he was entranced.

As he leaned forward, a twig cracked and the man sat up in a hurry and sank into the water. Thinking he had fallen in, Changmin yelled out and hurriedly ran to the stream.

\---

"Hey! Hey! Are you there?"

He stared at the surface in panic, searching for air bubbles or any sign of the man. Just as he was about to strip off his tunic and dive in, a voice sounded next to him.

"Were you looking for me?" The voice asked. Changmin turned swiftly, caught off-guard as he spotted the man half-out of the water, perched on his elbows, watching him with a look of amusement on his face.

Changmin nodded, breath catching as he took in the sight of the other. Almond dark brown eyes, sharp jawline, a sparkling half-smile that lit up his face, broad shoulders and muscled arms that flowed into sculpted abs that then sunk into the blue-green of the water. Changmin swallowed; the man was beautiful. Possibly the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

"I'm fine, thank you." Said the man. "The water will never hurt me."

He smiled again, showing more of his pearly teeth that made Changmin swallow hard. He turned away quickly, feeling a blush on his cheeks and a heat in his ears.

"I can sense your heart is in pain. It saddens me." Said the man again. Changmin looked up, confused. He opened his mouth to speak.

"Saddens you? How can you tell? We don't know each other."

The man smiled a soft smile and looked down. A flicker of water indicated where his legs were probably kicking underneath. For a moment, Changmin thought he saw something shiny where the other's legs should have been. But he quickly brushed that thought away.

"Call it sixth sense, I guess." Replied the man. Then he turned around and slipped into the water.

"Hey!" Changmin called out, scrambling to his hands and knees as he peered over the water.

Then two hands reached out and pulled him in, his eyes wide open in shock.

\--

Underneath the water, Changmin thrashed about, trying to return to the surface, air escaping in spurts. The man was holding him under the water, preventing him from moving, grasp firm as Changmin fought helplessly against him. The man waved his other hand in front of him but Changmin was too stricken with fear and wanting to escape.

Then as he thought he would die from drowning, the man leaned in and pressed his mouth against Changmin's in an open-mouth kiss. Changmin felt the fight go out of his body as his own opened in surprise, and the man's tongue sneaked in, refusing to let him close it.

Air rushed in, filling his grateful lungs and providing him with relief. He felt a wave of calmness wash over his body, and a warmth, a deep warmth emanating from his mouth, where the man who had now tilted his head to the side, deepening the kiss. He pulled away, shocked and stared at the other.

The man was watching him, still tightly holding onto him to keep him from sinking. Changmin's eyes trailed down his face, to his torso and then .. he almost screamed underwater, making the man pull him into an embrace to keep him from floating away.

Where legs should have been was a tail.

A fish tail, with scales that twinkled in the rays of the light that had managed to penetrate into the water. It flicked slowly in the water, keeping the both of them afloat.

It was long too, as though the man (merman?) would be around the same height as Changmin if he had legs.

\---

"Shh. It's okay. I won't hurt you." the man spoke. It came out as bubbles but Changmin heard them clearly in his head. He thrashed again in confusion. Did he die and was he in heaven? Or hell? Was this a dream?

"It isn't. It's real. I'm real." came the voice again in his head. Changmin paused, his rational side kicking in. If he could hear the merman's voice in his head, maybe he could talk back.

"How come I can hear you underwater? Why am I not drowning?" He thought.

"Because when I kissed you just now, I exhaled some of my essence into you. It won't be permanent, but for now, you can breathe and hear me talk to you."

"Who are you? How did you come here?"

"Call me Yunho. And.. I've been here for a long time. You just didn't know."

Changmin thought back to that part of the forest which he had not gone before. He nodded. It made sense. He wouldn't know anything about an area he hadn't gone.

"But mermen, like unicorns and fairies, aren't real."

"I didn't think men as sad as you were real either." came the answer, fast and furious.

\---

Changmin blushed, or at least he felt like his ears would have turned red if he wasn't underwater. He looked down and realised Yunho was still clutching him in an embrace. His lips were inches away from Yunho's, whose left arm was firmly circled around his waist, and right hand on his hip.

"Why did you pull me into the water?" he asked.

Yunho looked away for a moment before he replied.

"I don't know."

\---


	2. Two

 

Changmin looks away, and he's suddenly very aware of the fact that he's underwater and in the arms of a merman. A merman he's strangely entranced by; a merman that had kissed him.

He struggles a bit and tries to rise to the surface again. Yunho lets him go. Changmin breaks the surface and lets out a loud gasp, inhaling deeply. Yunho hasn't risen up after him.

Changmin swims to the bank and climbs up, hunched over. Suddenly, he feels a wave of nausea wash over him and he coughs. He coughs again and spits. It feels like he's choking. Hot tears burn at the corners of his eyes. He feels lost. Then an arm encircles him and pats his back.

"I'm sorry." Yunho says. He's propped up, half out of the bank and looking at Changmin with concern. "Are you okay?"

Changmin feels his chest tighten again and he turns around, lying down on the bank and staring at the sky.

"I walked into the forest after my world came crashing down. My feet led me here, where I discovered that mermaids exist. Where I found you. I don't know, am I still okay?"

Yunho stares at him awhile longer, his gaze slowly softening. Then, he turns and flops down beside Changmin. His hand finds Changmin's and he clasps it tightly. The squeeze strangely comforting to Changmin. And Changmin spills. He spills his broken heart to Yunho, the story of how he had never belonged in his town; of how he dreamed of leaving and following his heart; of singing and performing. Then his voice hardens as he tells Yunho how his father had refused to let him go. Of how he brought him crashing down.

Yunho is silent by the time Changmin finishes but his grasp on Changmin's hand hasn't wavered. Their fingers have unknowingly interlaced. Changmin feels the weight of the hand in the silence that follows.

"I was supposed to kill you." Yunho abruptly says. His words, shattering the peace. Changmin's eyes open wide in shock.

"That's why I pulled you underwater. So I could kill you and claim your soul." Yunho's tone is steel and cold. But his grip on Changmin's hand tightens. And for some reason, Changmin just _knows_ Yunho won't hurt him.

"But you didn't."

"I didn't."

"Why?"

Yunho sits up and looks right into Changmin's eyes.

"When I first felt your presence, I wondered how a person like you, could feel so different from the other humans I've met. I realised it was sadness. An implicit, resigned kind of sadness; an acceptance of the life that you have to lead and that darkness, it drew me in. The others that I've..met.. were dark but dark in different ways. None have been like you. And then you came running to try and save a person you thought was drowning, a complete stranger. And I was intrigued. Finally, in the water, as I was holding you, the way your heart was beating, the way you felt against my skin, I was enchanted. So I did something that I have never done before."

"What did you do?"

Yunho hesitates briefly, his tail flicking in the water. Then he leans in, closing his eyes as he comes close. Changmin feels his breath hitch against his face before the other's lips brushes against his.

"I kissed you."

\---

Changmin feels his heart speed up and he tilts his head, deepening the kiss. He leans back onto the ground, fingers tracing Yunho's muscular back as the other presses down onto him. Yunho is gorgeous and Changmin just wants to stay here, stay in this moment forever. His mind blurs and all he sees is Yunho.

"Changmin. We just met but do you..? Would you trust me? Would you follow me?" Yunho bends low to kiss Changmin one more time and backs away slowly, dipping lower into the water.

Changmin doesn't want Yunho to leave.

"Where?"

"Away. Away from your pain. Where you can sing and be yourself." Yunho is now in the water. Changmin kneels by the bank, watching him. He doesn't want this to end.

"With you?"

"With me." Yunho smiles, offering his hand. Changmin gazes at him, and then takes it.

\---

Epilogue:

There is a legend surrounding the forest behind the town.

That a young man had gone into the woods and lost his way, never to come out again, possibly eaten alive by wolves. Some people laughed it off as an old wives' tale to warn little children from wandering; but the elders recalled stories told to them as children about a distraught farming family who had lost their son that day. A gypsy had declared that she has spied the man by a river in the darker part of the forest but search parties had failed to find the man, much less said river.

Seafolk have also told stories of an entrancing voice for ages. A voice that lures unassuming sailors to a rocky outcrop in the middle of the ocean. A beautiful voice that once heard, cannot be ignored. A voice that seduces and brings sailors to their death as they crash onto the rocks beneath the water.

And fisher-children have told of stories of seeing two beautiful men, topless but with fish tails for legs. Of them frolicking in the ocean and a lot of them kissing and embracing. Stories that have gotten the children sent to bed for foolish lies.

\---

Changmin doesn't miss anything human-like. He still has vague recollections of the day, centuries ago when he first met Yunho. But all he remembers now is just the other.

A beauty that lies within the deep.

  
with permission from @smile_ssi (thank you :))

\---  
a/n: my first attempt at fantasy. sorry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> also on livejournal.


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